The Plymouth City Council members took action on a request Monday night to defer the utility system development tap fees for the upcoming Aquatics Center and Early Childhood Development Center construction projects.
City Attorney Sean Surrisi explained that the project’s new market requirements mandate that five percent of the cost of the project be contingency funds. It is the idea that the utility development tap fees be paid out of the contingency funds at the conclusion of the project. The cost is nearly $91,000. The Plymouth Redevelopment Commission members discussed that term at length last week and ultimately unanimously agreed to pay that cost if the contingency money does not cover those fees.
Surrisi said there will be about $400,000 in contingency funds with the projects.
Councilman Gary Cook asked if it was known about the contingency funds as paperwork for these projects moved forward and Surrisi said the information was noted. Surrisi added that the project has been pushed back several times.
“As things have evolved over the time, the scope of the project has changed a little bit,” said Surrisi. “When the selected contractors put the project out to bid to their subcontractors some of the numbers came in higher than we had in our budget. They were very good to work with in terms of figuring out what we could do to get that back down to the budget amount. That is where the difficulty came in.”
Cook commented that it’s more taxpayer money being spent and took Marshall County Economic Development Corporation President and CEO Jerry Chavez to task about this issue. Chavez said the majority of the items were figured out but major curveballs were thrown at the project.
After the discussion, the Plymouth City Council members passed the request with a majority vote. Gary Cook voted against the motion while Jeff Houin abstained from the vote. Council members Bill Walters, Duane Culp and Shiloh Milner approved the motion. Council members Don Ecker, Jr. and Randy Longanecker were not in attendance at the meeting.
